~ Summer ~ Blues, Shells & a Copper Ex-Voto

As the temperatures climb this time of year whites and blues look so inviting. Needing  a little change sent me looking for things collected over the years to do a little summer decorating. I think the vintage, flea market, blue bottles could make a comeback to the living room area. Maybe in the entry table this time. 

I love this copper and turquoise ex voto - heart more now than when I first bought it. Although a newer piece,

~ Succulents in Summer Bloom

When it is summer time I'm really craving blooms outside. Although I have a reawakened love of some succulents it is one of the ones from the past that I long snubbed as too easy or boring or whatever I mistakenly thought that is really making a splash right now.  It's the simple portulaca. I have no idea why it hasn't been used more in our flower garden over the last few years. I think it was because not too many succulents of any kind were invited to our garden parties.  This year though, the lowly portulaca are the perfect complement to the other succulents. Not only do they bloom without too much maintenance all summer long, but their blossoms really enhanced the beauty of the smaller blooms of  the same color on the other succulent. No idea what the name of that one is since they are all kind of new to me in the last couple of years and they all get that succulent around here still. I think they are here to stay though. 

The pots above are newly planted this year. I had neglected the ones from last year a little too much, and had to redo them, but only a little. Just needed some restructuring of soil and plant sizes. 

For some tips on making your own succulent dish garden check out this post. 

I'm sewing right now while it's so hot outside. Although sewing is never on my list of fun things to do, hopefully the summer will see some projects done inside while those pretty flowers dance outside. And I hope all your flowers are having a great summer  as well.

See Y'all Soon~
Donna

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Click on any of the pictures below to shop  art from The Decorated House 

~ Blossoms of the Night

This is one of those totally fantastic things in nature that you feel lucky to see. And they do look like there are straight out of a fantasy landscape when you see them up close. About this time year,

~ Home Office - Get The Designer Look For Less

No room for a home office? Here are a few hints from a talented designer.

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In this lovely home in Austin,  designer Sara Scaglione made excellent use of a very small area. This is one end of the sunroom which she turned into an office. I would guess that they have another area where the computer is, or there is usually a laptop or wireless computer being used here. 

She used vintage

~ Decorating with Rusty Old Things

Sometimes you don't know exactly how or when you started to really love something. It's that way with rust. Without a doubt I spent many hours with cleaners, navel jelly, sandpaper and whatever to get rust off of something that I wanted to paint.

When I saw this lock and the sister one that I found at the same time, I knew

~ Decorating with Antique Blue Bottles on The Mantel

 Although I seldom decorate with pink, sometimes it just fits the mood. This time of year when there are flowers outside, it is so enjoyable to have them inside as well.  So many times I look for something different

~ Home Office with Black Cabinet Built-Ins & Desk

A home office can be simply a tiny corner set aside for paying bills or copying recipes, or it an be a major design element including an entire room.

Recently Sweet Daughter purchased a large white desk so that she could create her much needed home office in an alcove of her den/family room. Since she knew this was what she wanted for sometime, I was busy looking for ideas of combining bookcases with desks to show her.

The picture above (photo by The Decorated House) of a  home office is from a showhouse a couple of years ago. Aren't those cabinets beautiful? Painted black with wire inset in the doors, this is storage with style. My daughter chose white instead of wood or black to keep the room lighter since gets less light than the rest of the house. She does not have enough room for full double door bookcases like the ones here, so we have been hunting for ones that are less than 20 inches since her desk is a large 63 inches. It had to be that size because she wanted a built-in file cabinet drawer. She did not think she wanted any doors, but with have Cody Bear in the house and therefore doggie hair, I'm tying to convince her to have at least the bottom half with a door and then leave the top for books and display. It has taken quite a while to find the right desk at a good price.


My own art room - studio has been in-the-making for such a long time, I wonder if it will ever be "done" and cleaned up as well as truly organized. Older homes usually have such deficient closet space and that certainly contributes to the problem of not enough storage when you are artists or someone who loves to create things.

Some of the pictures I have found online of  Home Offices & Studios  are here on Pinterest. There are so great ideas even though I need more inspiration and energy to get it done!

See Y'All Soon~

~ Bedroom Inspiration - Pretty Red Chest Style Nightstands

Aren't those chests pretty as nightstands? How easy it would be to make something just as stunning by painting a small chest or dresser that you were lucky enough to find at a thrift store or garage sale. This is such a charming bedroom created for a fundraiser showhouse. Simple design, no excess accessories. In our bedroom we have larger chests like these to help with the lack of storage. Works out really well.

See Y'All Soon~

~ Succulent Dish Garden ~ How-To, Tutorial

We are still working outside right now, and one of the last things to do is to freshen up some of the succulent dish gardens, or make new ones. My love affair with many of these succulents continues. I guess I just never saw many of these in my early years of gardening or plants like mother-in-laws tongue didn't hold much interest for me.

So even though this is a repeat, you might enjoy it again, or for the first time.

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Making a succulent dish garden

~ Living Rooms ~ Which Would You Choose?

Aren't these two living rooms both beautiful and interesting?  When they first started appearing around the web, it made me take a closer look since they had different elements that I too really liked. The spaces may be very different in size in real life, but I'm only looking at what we see in the photos. 

The first picture is House Beautiful magazine chatting with designer, and Euro Trash owner Annie Brahler, who shares how she used gold accents, restored antiques, and large mirrors when decorating her Jacksonville, IL home.

 

 The second photo is from Sally Wheat Designs. We can look into the rooms from a similar entry point, and see what might have been the same space decorated by two different designers. Both spaces have light neutral walls, and wood floors with a natural rug, a very simple color palette, and gold accents. A simple and well used plan for good reason. The first house is a Victorian as opposed to the second one which is not as old. But you could easily visualize swapping the furniture and think that is the way each designer might have decorated the other space,  at least from the way we are seeing the rooms from the photos. The Victorian room might be much larger since the fireplace is probably centered between two windows.

 I've seen people on-line swoon over both of these pictures. How nice that we are all so different. Which one is more to your liking? Does one just suit your style perfectly, or you like something(s), or don't like something(s), from each one? 

See Y'all Soon~

~ Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing you a wonderful Mother's Day

See Y'All Soon~

~ Update the Instant Garden ~ Fast Growing Summer Border ~

Click on link for an update on The Instant Garden.

(The last post didn't update in feedburner.)

The above picture is for semi-shade summer gardening,

with lots of watering.   

See Y'All Soon~

Donna